The Wonder of Illness
by The Awesome Frost Ninja
Summary: "It wasn't until a long while that he felt something like a pinch followed by a pit forming in his stomach. Something was wrong, he could sense it." - It was meant to be a quiet day off. Kanan was enjoying the down time by meditating, but his day is flipped when a certain padawan of his ends up being sick. Sick!Ezra {ONE SHOT}


**A/N: Hey guys! I'm now officially obsessed with Star Wars Rebels, and I just had to write something. I love Space Family. So, here's some Space Dad and Space Son.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was quiet on the planet, Lothal. And it was one of the rare occasions where the crew of the Ghost would get the day off. Not that they would call it a day off, they just didn't catch wind of an operation or trouble. Kanan used this time to meditate. It was rare, but nothing seemed to disturb his peace, it still didn't break as he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened. "We're way over due for a supply run. Zeb, Sabine and I are going down into town, do you need anything?" It was Hera.

Kanan's eyes remained closed. "No thanks, I'm alright."

Hera nodded, "Okay, just so you know, Ezra and Chopper are still on the ship, they're running a ship diagnostic. I'll be back in a few hours."

She shut the door and left as Kanan resumed to his meditating. Time escaped him and he felt at peace with the silence around him. It wasn't until a long while that he felt something like a pinch followed by a pit forming in his stomach. Something was wrong, he could sense it. His eyes snapped open as his door suddenly flew open followed by a frantic beeping.

Chopper spun his head as he beeped menacingly at Kanan. His binary was too quick for Kanan to understand.

"Hey, hey. Slow down, Chop. What's wrong?"

In response, Chopper kept ramming into Kanan as his way of telling his to get up. Kanan listened to the droid and only understood that it had to do with Ezra. Chopper shot down the hall as Kanan had to run after him. Chopper stopped near the cargo bay and pointed down with one of his miniature mechanical arms.

"Chopper! What did you mean about-" He stopped midway through his sentence as he saw Ezra lying over a cargo crate unconscious still clutching a datapad tightly in his hand. "Ezra? Ezra!"

Kanan rushed down to his padawan's side as Chopper followed behind. Kanan shook Ezra's shoulder.

"Hey, kid, c'mon, wake up."

Ezra groaned and dragged himself up from the crate to stand. He stood up taking in heavy deep breaths.

"What happened?" Kanan asked, his hand hovering in the space between them. Ezra turned and looked at Kanan, but his eyes were glazed and his gaze looked distance.

Kanan eyed him cautiously. "Ezra?"

Ezra was only standing for a few seconds before his legs gave way. Kanan was quick to catch him before he hit the ground. Ezra went limp in his arms. Kanan knelt on the ground with Ezra half lying in his arms and on the ground. Kanan attempted to cajole him back into consciousness.

"Ezra, c'mon wake up." He spoke frantically but he maintained a somewhat gentle tone, but when he turned to Chopper it almost became the complete opposite. "What did you do!?"

Chopper fired off multiple beeps, obviously insulted by Kanan's accusation that he had done something to Ezra. Chopper proceeded to tell Kanan what happened. The two had been running the ship diagnostic, and they were just finishing up when Ezra started acting weird and passed out on a crate.

Kanan looked down at his padawan. Ezra was pale and he had a light layer of cold sweat over his forehead. Kanan placed his hand against Ezra's forehead, but quickly retracted upon contact. Ezra felt like he was fire; the boy had a raging fever.

"He's sick." Kanan stated aloud. It explained why Ezra was acting slightly off for a couple days, in fact the whole crew had noticed, but no one blinked a second time at it. The kid was good at keeping secrets, Kanan would give him that. But it rose the question as to why he kept it a secret.

Kanan was surprised as he heard an almost silent slurred mumble, but he heard it regardless, "No, I'm fine."

"Oh really?" Kanan knew that the kid was barely lucid, but the sarcasm slipped out anyway. After that he gained no response. "Sometimes you make me worry too much, kid." Kanan sighed. On the bright side the kid wasn't dying, but he was definitely sick. If anything, Kanan was more worried about him.

Ezra showed no sign of waking up so Kanan lifted Ezra into his arms. Kanan carried Ezra into the living quarters. Kanan saw the mess that Zeb and Ezra called a room. Kanan chose to ignore it as he placed Ezra on the top bunk and pulled a blanket over the boy. His hand lingered for a moment as he heard Ezra groan for a moment, but alas he still didn't awake. Kanan noticed Ezra starting to tremble. Kanan felt a spike of panic shoot through him. What could he do!? A thought suddenly struck him. Medicine! He had to get some medicine.

Chopper remained behind with Ezra as Kanan rushed to the medbay to look around in the medicine cabinets. He scanned through labels. He found some bacta, but that had no use to him. That's when he found the fever reducers. There was only two fever reducers left, and with the fever Ezra had, Kanan knew that they definitely needed more.

 _Guess they'll do for now. I'll get the kid to take them when he wakes up._ Kanan thought as he grabbed the last of the medicine.

Kanan knew there was one person he could always rely on for back-up. He grabbed his communicator off his belt. "Spectre 1 to 2, do you copy?"

It was a moment before Hera replied. _"I copy. What do you need?"_

Kanan was hesitant at first, but he eventually asked the question, "Can you get more fever reducers?"

 _"Sure...wait why do you need more fever reducers?"_ And there it was; the almost motherly concern and worry that Hera constantly had. Kanan walked back into the hall as he briefly explained.

"It's for the kid. I won't give you the whole story, but he's sick."

Kanan received an earful of Hera asking multiple questions, but he had to cut Hera off, "Hera, it's pretty bad. But I'll look after him until you get back to fuss over him. Just finish getting the supplies we need first, ok?"

Hera's voice could barely be heard over the sudden commotion that came from Zeb and Sabine, whom were over hearing the conversation. A very evident sigh came from Hera. _"Alright, just keep me posted if his condition get's worse. We should be back at 1600 hours. Spectre 2 out."_

Three hours until Hera would return. Kanan turned off his communicator and sighed. He had to admit that he silently wished that he and Hera had swapped places for Ezra's sake. Kanan wasn't exactly the greatest help when someone was sick. Kanan knew that between the two of them, Hera was more of the 'medic', and she could nurse anyone better. It was one of her talents behind piloting. And on top of all things, he may have not been a medical droid, but Kanan knew that Ezra was badly sick.

"At least I have Chopper." Kanan joked aloud to himself. That was when Kanan realised that Chopper was still in Ezra's room. Kanan stood in the doorway and he couldn't help but stare.

He had to blink a few times before he realised Chopper had been silently watching over Ezra the whole time he was gone. The keyword being 'silently'. Kanan had to admit that it was uncharacteristic of Chopper to do such a thing. But it looked like to Kanan that Chopper was just as worried as he was. Kanan leaned against the door frame as he watched Ezra take quiet and shallow breaths. He could tell that Ezra was really sick, how did he not see it before? How did Ezra get that bad?

Kanan snapped out of his thoughts as Chopper started a ruckus at the sight of Ezra stirring back into the waking world. Kanan was at his padawan's side in moments. Ezra sluggishly started to blink his eyes awake.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kanan's voice was in a calming whisper.

Ezra blinked and narrowed his eyes at the face a few inches away from his. "...Kanan?" Ezra's voice sounded strained. _At least he seems lucid this time._ Kanan thought.

"The one and only." Kanan smirked. "Mind telling me what you remember?"

Ezra groaned as he willed his memory to return. "Chopper and I were running a ship diagnostic. I was just finishing up the analysis."

"Anything after that?"

Ezra blinked a few times and shook his head.

Kanan explained."You were out cold, Chopper had to come and get me. Was there something you wanted to tell me?" Kanan folded his arms. Ezra held a hand to his forehead.

"I have to finish the report." Ezra attempted to sit up on his bunk, but Kanan pushed him back down.

"You can finish it up later. Right now you need to rest."

Ezra ignored Kanan as he pushed through Kanan's arms and leapt down from the bunk. Ezra only stood for a few moments before his legs swayed and gave way. Kanan caught him for the second time that day. It was already two times too many. Ezra remained conscious, but he panted softly.

"You need to rest." Kanan tried to pick up Ezra, but Ezra stubbornly began to fight back against him.

"No, I can..." Kanan stopped trying to lift him and instead helped Ezra into a sitting position, but kept a firm grip on Ezra's arms. "I can finish this."

"Ezra, you're in no condition."

Before Ezra could respond, Chopper suddenly came from the room beeping at the two. Ezra flinched at the loud beeping. Kanan saw it and looked to Chopper.

"Chopper, how about you finish the analysis?" Chopper started beeping in protest, but he listened to Kanan as he went back down to the cargo bay. Kanan looked back to Ezra. He felt Ezra trembling in his arms. Kanan didn't want him jumping off his bunk again, and Zeb's bunk had a light patches of his leftover sheddings, so he came up with the next best thing.

"C'mon." He gently scooped Ezra into his arms. Ezra had lost what energy he had and he didn't put up much of a fight. Kanan carried Ezra into his living quarters. Kanan thought that it would level down the playing field being in his own 'territory', just in case Ezra tried to get up again. He placed Ezra down on the bottom bunk. Kanan propped up Ezra's legs up one at a time and pulled the blanket over him.

Kanan sat on the bunk as he heard Ezra groan and groggily blinked up at him. "Not feeling so great?" Kanan wasn't trying to be sarcastic, but he felt that it lightened up the atmosphere. Kanan pulled out the fever reducers from his pocket. "Here."

Ezra pathetically tried to push Kanan's hand away. "I don't...I don't...need..." Ezra never finished his sentence. He was out like a light.

Kanan couldn't help but roll his eyes with a shadow of a smile tracing over his face. Kanan looked down at Ezra. He looked so unguarded, so innocent. Kanan pulled his nearby chair stall beside the bunk. He continued to sit beside his sleeping padawan. He felt Ezra's forehead; it was still burning hot. He ran his hand through Ezra's hair. Seeing Ezra look so unwell brought a feeling that he couldn't quite place. Either way, he didn't like it.

Even with Ezra's reluctance, the first thing on Kanan's list was to try and get Ezra's fever from getting any higher.

* * *

The world of waking wasn't kind to Ezra. But it was kinder than what he was expecting. When Ezra first awoke he expected to feel like he was dipped in burning lava, but instead he just felt warm. He also felt something soothingly cool and wet on his fiery forehead. But oddly enough, he actually felt safe. Ezra willed his heavy eye lids to open. He was in a bunk, he could tell instantly that it wasn't his or Zeb's. Ezra rolled to his side, causing both the blanket covering him and whatever had been on his forehead to fall as he tried to sit up. He felt too weak to even get up half way. Rest or not, he still felt awful.

Ezra suddenly felt a hand gently push him back down.

"Don't push yourself." It was Kanan.

Ezra placed a hand against his now clammy forehead. "Wha..?" He had small tidbits of memory return to him. "How long was I out?" Ezra croaked.

Kanan thought about for a moment. "About an hour." Kanan grabbed the stray rag and dipped in on a bucket of cold water on the ground.

The action caused Ezra to finally registered his surroundings. "This isn't my room." Ezra looked around. It was Kanan's room.

"I know." Kanan moved from his chair and sat on the space on the side of the bunk.

Ezra felt his cheeks flush a little pink and it wasn't because of his fever. "Uh...why?"

Kanan didn't hesitate as he replied, "To keep a closer eye on you. And besides, would you rather have slept in Zeb's bunk?" Ezra didn't need to answer that question for Kanan to know the answer. Kanan saw Ezra beginning shiver.

"How are you feeling?" Kanan started to pull the blanket over Ezra, but Ezra quickly snatched it out of his hands.

"I can do it. That much I can do by myself." Ezra slowly pulled it over himself. Ezra put two and two together. It was obvious to him that he had been carried by Kanan and placed in his room of all places. He needed something to re-affirm his independence.

Kanan frowned. Whilst he could tell that Ezra was more lucid, he began to ask the real questions. "How long have you been sick?"

Ezra saw Kanan's stare. There was no escape, he had to tell the truth. Ezra cleared his throat in an attempt to sound decent. "A week, maybe more."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kanan was so confused as to why Ezra kept it a secret. He didn't quite understand. But it did explain a lot. Ezra had been dodging any mention of training. He had been discretely avoiding dodging everyone in the crew for a few days. Ezra had a great act, but it was only kept up for so long.

Ezra looked away from Kanan's gaze and shrugged. And it was then that Kanan felt a small inkling slip through Ezra's walls that he kept so heavily guarded. Kanan could feel the ripple of emotion. Fear. Sadness. He sensed it was because of Ezra's past. Kanan finally understood. Ezra had been hiding it because he didn't want to seen as weak. Kanan then thought to himself that maybe because Ezra had been on his own for so long that he had forgotten how to let others take care of him. Ezra had been with the crew for long time, but he also understood that old habits died hard. Kanan could feel a twinge of sadness grow in his heart.

Kanan emphatically looked at Ezra. "So that's what this is about." Ezra blinked at him with a questioning look.

"You're so strong. Sometimes I forget that you were own for so long."

Ezra stared at Kanan in confusion. Where had that come from?

Kanan placed his hand on Ezra's shoulder as he held out the fever reducers with his other hand.

"Here, take these."

As if recalling Kanan's last attempt, Ezra weakly pushed his hand away. "I don't need them." Ezra tried to sit up, but he immediately felt too dizzy and he had to take deep breaths as Kanan pushed him back down unto the bunk.

Kanan rolled his eyes. "Stop being so stubborn. Like or not kid, but we can't have you getting any worse. You're the one that passed out, not me."

Ezra looked down in shame after the scolding.

Kanan immediately regretted how he had said it. Kanan was just worried, but now Ezra thought he was angry. He went to rephrase it. "I meant to say is that as soon as you were feeling sick, you should've come to me or Hera. We're a crew. A team. We look out for each other from a mission to getting sick."

Ezra felt as if he should've known that all before. But it was hard for him sometimes to forget that he was no longer alone. Ezra had honestly thought that he would've been a burden if he had said anything. And as he saw how far it had gone, it was how he felt at that moment; a burden.

Kanan could sense Ezra's thoughts. "Kid, I'll let you in on a secret." Ezra immediately began to suspiciously look at him. "Everyone gets sick every once and while. It's nothing to feel ashamed about."

Ezra didn't find much comfort in that, but he did find some reassurance that just maybe, Kanan didn't see him as a burden.

 _Never have, never will._

Ezra blinked at him. Did he just...? Kanan was smiling.

"Besides, as a Jedi, you need to know that sometimes to be honest with others is to be honest with yourself."

Their bond was strong, Ezra felt as if he should've known that Kanan would be able to see through him. Ezra nodded as he understood. Ezra suddenly started to smirk at Kanan. "Who knew I would be getting Jedi training while I'm sick."

Kanan smiled. There was the wise-cracking kid that he called his padawan. "So you admit it?" Kanan presented the fever reducers once more. Ezra eyed the pills. He eventually complied as Kanan passed them to him.

Ezra slowly swallowed the fever reducers. He grimaced at the strange sensation. He never really took medicine. In Lothal, medicine was quite coveted. Ezra never got any since it was too expensive and too hard to steal without getting caught. When he got sick when he was young he normally would ride it out and keep himself buried in his tower until he was well enough to go back out. Ezra knew it wasn't ideal, but it's how he dealt with it.

"They'll kick in soon. It'll help you get better." Kanan reassured.

Ezra went back to lying down and he decided to make conversation to pass the time. "Where's Chopper?"

"Chopper's doing the secondary diagnostic."

Ezra felt the medicine starting to kick in. He felt himself getting drowsy. He closed his eyes and felt the cool rag being placed unto his forehead once more. Ezra didn't move nor open his eyes as he asked,

"Do you really need to-"

Kanan cut him off, "Yes. We need to keep that fever down."

Ezra hummed in acknowledgement. Kanan took it as a sign that he was drifting into sleep.

"Kanan." Ezra groaned.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." Ezra's voice was quiet.

Kanan blinked at him, "For what?"

Ezra looked as if he were already asleep, but with what strength he had left he mumbled, "For taking care of me."

Kanan blinked at Ezra, surprised at the appreciation. Before Kanan could reply or even have a reaction, Ezra's breathing was evening out. Ezra had fallen asleep. Kanan sighed with a small shake of his head, but a smile was plastered across his face.

He had to admit, he liked it when Ezra didn't constantly have his guard up enough to say something like that, but considering the circumstances he didn't enjoy it as much. Kanan could feel something tug within him. It was a sense of protectiveness. He wanted to protect Ezra with every fiber in his being. Kanan knew that he would leap into danger without a second thought if it meant protecting Ezra. That itself wasn't choice, it was a fact. And taking care of Ezra was just one of the ways he saw as protecting him.

Kanan discretely checked his temperature by moving the rag for a moment. The fever had gone down, but only slightly.

"Don't worry. You'll be out kicking around some bucket heads in no time, kid." Ezra was a strong kid, but even Kanan knew that it was going to take a few days for Ezra to completely recover. Kanan ran his hand through Ezra's hair. Ezra unconsciously leaned into the touch. Kanan felt as if a hole in his heart had been filled. For the first time in a long time, Kanan genuinely smiled.

* * *

Hera had Zeb and Sabine load up the cargo whilst she rushed about trying to look for Kanan, but she instead found Chopper waiting for them.

"Chopper, where's Kanan and Ezra?" Hera listened as Chopper beeped his binary language to her. The living quarters. Hera immediately marched into Zeb and Ezra's room. Hera half expected to see Kanan slightly panicking as Ezra would be barely conscious, but there was nothing. No one was in the room. Hera looked around confused. Where were they?

Hera didn't know why, but something told her to open Kanan's door. She opened the door and her heart immediately melted at the sight. Ezra was fast asleep in Kanan's bunk. But what really surprised Hera was Kanan. He sat on a chair beside the bunk. He had leaned forwards in the spare space between him and Ezra. Kanan had used his own crossed arms as a pillow. He was asleep too.

Hera quietly approached the two and she couldn't help but smile. She gently peeled the rag off Ezra's forehead and checked his temperature for herself. The fever wasn't horrible, but it definitely wasn't good either. However, that fact didn't get rid of Hera's smile. She knew that Kanan would've done his best to take care of Ezra. The evidence was right infront of her.

She pulled the blanket from the empty top bunk and draped in over Kanan's shoulders. He stirred for a moment, but relaxed moments later. Perhaps it was because Kanan could sense it was her, but Hera couldn't tell for sure. Hera knew she didn't have to worry as much as she did. Kanan had it covered.

"Keep up what you're doing. You're doing a good job." Hera whispered to the sleeping Jedi. Hera placed the packet over fever reducer next to him. She then quietly placed the rag into the water. She twisted out the water before placing back on Ezra's forehead. Hera brushed a few hairs out of Ezra's face before she slipped out the room.

Hera made her way back to the cargo bay. Sabine and Zeb were waiting for Hera.

"How's the kid?" Zeb asked. He and Sabine both had genunine worry on their faces.

Hera responded with a smile. "He'll be alright." The others wanted to be reassured by Hera's statement, but her smile got the two suspicious. Hera ignored the looks of suspicion she received. Ezra was going to be fine. He had his protective and doting Jedi master taking care of him after all.

* * *

 **A/N: I decided to do my own version of a Sick!Ezra fanfic among the many. This is my first SWR fanfic too.** **I love SWR and Space Family so much! It's great!**

 **So, what did you guys think? Do you want to see more fanfics from me? Like it? Hate it?**

 **Comment below, let me know! And of course, may the Force be with you!** _(I've always wanted to say that)_


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